Two tips for tax season

Tax season is upon us! The pulmonary hypertension community brought two tips to our attention. First, the usual disclaimer: we are not tax accountants, so if you have questions, please check with a tax professional.

Free tax clinics for people with modest incomes

Community organizations across Canada host free tax clinics where volunteers complete tax returns for people with modest incomes and simple tax situations. Find out more here.

Claiming electricity costs for medical devices

Several people noted that they include the cost of the electricity they must use to run devices (such as oxygen concentrators and CPAP machines) as part of their medical expenses for tax-deduction purposes. If you do this, you will need to know:

• The price of electricity in your province or territory. There will be a price per kilowatt-hour listed on your electricity bill.

• How much electricity your device uses. The label on the device will show the number of watts or kilowatts it uses. The device in the image below uses 1500 watts, or 1.5 kilowatts.

• How much you use the device. How many hours a day does the device use electricity?

Once you have those numbers, you can use this calculator to help estimate the annual electricity cost for your medical device.

Find out more about medical expenses here.